Rosablanca Formation

The Rosablanca Formation (Spanish: Formación Rosablanca, Kir) is a geological formation of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes and the Middle Magdalena Basin. The formation consists of grey limestones, dolomites and shales with at the upper part sandstones. The formation dates to the Early Cretaceous period; Valanginian epoch and has a thickness of 425 metres (1,394 ft) in the valley of the Sogamoso River.

Rosablanca Formation
Stratigraphic range: Valanginian ~136–133 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Type	Geological formation
Underlies	Paja Fm., Ritoque Fm.
Overlies	Cumbres Fm., Girón Fm., Los Medios Fm.
Thickness	~470 m (1,540 ft)
Lithology
Primary	Sandstone
Other	Shale
Location
Coordinates	4°27′07″N 74°03′20″W
Region	Altiplano Cundiboyacense Eastern Ranges, Andes
Country	Colombia
Type section
Named by	Wheeler
Location	Mesa de Los Santos
Year defined	1929
Coordinates	4°27′07″N 74°03′20″W
Region	Boyacá, Santander
Country	Colombia

Definition

The formation was first defined by Wheeler in 1929.^[1]

Description

Lithologies

The Rosablanca Formation is characterised by a sequence of grey limestones, dolomites and shales with a maximum thickness of 425 metres (1,394 ft) in the Sogamoso River valley.^[1]

Stratigraphy and depositional environment

The Rosablanca Formation overlies the Arcabuco Formation and is overlain by the Ritoque Formation. The age has been estimated to be Valanginian. Stratigraphically, the formation is time equivalent with the Macanal Formation.^[1]

Fossils

Fossils of the decapod crustacean Diaulax rosablanca have been found in and named after the Rosablanca Formation.^[2] In 2019, fossils of brachiopodSellithyris elizabetha were described from the formation.^[3] In 2020 remains of indeterminate pterosaurs were described from the formation, including pterodactyloids and non-Pteranodontian ornithocheiroids.^[4] In 2005 the remains of Platychelyid sea turtle Notoemys zapatocaensis were described,^[5] and in 2023 the limbs and shell elements of protostegids were described as some of the largest Early Cretaceous turtles.^[6] The hybodont shark Strophodus has been reported from the formation.^[7]

Outcrops

Type locality of the Rosablanca Formation in Santander

The Rosablanca Formation is found, apart from its type locality on the Mesa de Los Santos, Santander, in Boyacá and the Middle Magdalena Basin.

Regional correlations

Stratigraphy of the Llanos Basin and surrounding provinces

Ma	Age	Paleomap	Regional events	Catatumbo	Cordillera	proximal Llanos	distal Llanos	Putumayo	VSM	Environments	Maximum thickness	Petroleum geology	Notes
0.01	Holocene		Holocene volcanism Seismic activity	alluvium								Overburden
1	Pleistocene		Pleistocene volcanism Andean orogeny 3 Glaciations	Guayabo	Soatá Sabana	Necesidad	Guayabo	Gigante Neiva		Alluvial to fluvial (Guayabo)	550 m (1,800 ft) (Guayabo)		[8][9][10][11]
2.6	Pliocene		Pliocene volcanism Andean orogeny 3 GABI		Subachoque
5.3	Messinian		Andean orogeny 3 Foreland		Marichuela			Caimán	Honda				[10][12]
13.5	Langhian		Regional flooding	León	hiatus	Caja	León			Lacustrine (León)	400 m (1,300 ft) (León)	Seal	[11][13]
16.2	Burdigalian		Miocene inundations Andean orogeny 2	C1		Carbonera C1		Ospina		Proximal fluvio-deltaic (C1)	850 m (2,790 ft) (Carbonera)	Reservoir	[12][11]
17.3				C2		Carbonera C2				Distal lacustrine-deltaic (C2)		Seal
19				C3		Carbonera C3				Proximal fluvio-deltaic (C3)		Reservoir
21	Early Miocene		Pebas wetlands	C4		Carbonera C4			Barzalosa	Distal fluvio-deltaic (C4)		Seal
23	Late Oligocene		Andean orogeny 1 Foredeep	C5		Carbonera C5		Orito		Proximal fluvio-deltaic (C5)		Reservoir	[9][12]
25				C6		Carbonera C6				Distal fluvio-lacustrine (C6)		Seal
28	Early Oligocene			C7		C7		Pepino	Gualanday	Proximal deltaic-marine (C7)		Reservoir	[9][12][14]
32	Oligo-Eocene			C8	Usme	C8	onlap			Marine-deltaic (C8)		Seal Source	[14]
35	Late Eocene			Mirador		Mirador				Coastal (Mirador)	240 m (790 ft) (Mirador)	Reservoir	[11][15]
40	Middle Eocene				Regadera				hiatus
45
50	Early Eocene			Socha		Los Cuervos				Deltaic (Los Cuervos)	260 m (850 ft) (Los Cuervos)	Seal Source	[11][15]
55	Late Paleocene		PETM 2000 ppm CO2	Los Cuervos	Bogotá				Gualanday
60	Early Paleocene		SALMA	Barco	Guaduas	Barco		Rumiyaco		Fluvial (Barco)	225 m (738 ft) (Barco)	Reservoir	[8][9][12][11][16]
65	Maastrichtian		KT extinction	Catatumbo	Guadalupe				Monserrate	Deltaic-fluvial (Guadalupe)	750 m (2,460 ft) (Guadalupe)	Reservoir	[8][11]
72	Campanian		End of rifting	Colón-Mito Juan									[11][17]
83	Santonian							Villeta/Güagüaquí
86	Coniacian
89	Turonian		Cenomanian-Turonian anoxic event	La Luna	Chipaque	Gachetá	hiatus			Restricted marine (all)	500 m (1,600 ft) (Gachetá)	Source	[8][11][18]
93	Cenomanian		Rift 2
100	Albian				Une	Une		Caballos		Deltaic (Une)	500 m (1,600 ft) (Une)	Reservoir	[12][18]
113	Aptian			Capacho	Fómeque			Motema	Yaví	Open marine (Fómeque)	800 m (2,600 ft) (Fómeque)	Source (Fóm)	[9][11][19]
125	Barremian		High biodiversity	Aguardiente	Paja					Shallow to open marine (Paja)	940 m (3,080 ft) (Paja)	Reservoir	[8]
129	Hauterivian		Rift 1	Tibú- Mercedes	Las Juntas	hiatus				Deltaic (Las Juntas)	910 m (2,990 ft) (Las Juntas)	Reservoir (LJun)	[8]
133	Valanginian			Río Negro	Cáqueza Macanal Rosablanca					Restricted marine (Macanal)	2,935 m (9,629 ft) (Macanal)	Source (Mac)	[9][20]
140	Berriasian			Girón
145	Tithonian		Break-up of Pangea	Jordán	Arcabuco	Buenavista Batá		Saldaña		Alluvial, fluvial (Buenavista)	110 m (360 ft) (Buenavista)	"Jurassic"	[12][21]
150	Early-Mid Jurassic		Passive margin 2	La Quinta	Montebel Noreán	hiatus				Coastal tuff (La Quinta)	100 m (330 ft) (La Quinta)		[22]
201	Late Triassic			Mucuchachi				Payandé					[12]
235	Early Triassic		Pangea		hiatus							"Paleozoic"
250	Permian
300	Late Carboniferous		Famatinian orogeny						Cerro Neiva ()				[23]
340	Early Carboniferous		Fossil fish Romer's gap		Cuche (355-385)	Farallones ()				Deltaic, estuarine (Cuche)	900 m (3,000 ft) (Cuche)
360	Late Devonian		Passive margin 1	Río Cachirí (360-419)					Ambicá ()	Alluvial-fluvial-reef (Farallones)	2,400 m (7,900 ft) (Farallones)		[20][24][25][26][27]
390	Early Devonian		High biodiversity	Floresta (387-400) El Tíbet						Shallow marine (Floresta)	600 m (2,000 ft) (Floresta)
410	Late Silurian		Silurian mystery
425	Early Silurian			hiatus
440	Late Ordovician		Rich fauna in Bolivia	San Pedro (450-490)		Duda ()
470	Early Ordovician		First fossils		Busbanzá (>470±22) Chuscales Otengá	Guape ()		Río Nevado ()	Hígado () Agua Blanca Venado (470-475)				[28][29][30]
488	Late Cambrian		Regional intrusions	Chicamocha (490-515)	Quetame ()	Ariarí ()		SJ del Guaviare (490-590)	San Isidro ()				[31][32]
515	Early Cambrian		Cambrian explosion										[30][33]
542	Ediacaran		Break-up of Rodinia		pre-Quetame		post-Parguaza		El Barro ()	Yellow: allochthonous basement (Chibcha terrane) Green: autochthonous basement (Río Negro-Juruena Province)		Basement	[34][35]
600	Neoproterozoic		Cariri Velhos orogeny	Bucaramanga (600-1400)				pre-Guaviare					[31]
800			Snowball Earth										[36]
1000	Mesoproterozoic		Sunsás orogeny			Ariarí (1000)			La Urraca (1030-1100)				[37][38][39][40]
1300			Rondônia-Juruá orogeny			pre-Ariarí	Parguaza (1300-1400)		Garzón (1180-1550)				[41]
1400				pre-Bucaramanga									[42]
1600	Paleoproterozoic						Maimachi (1500-1700)		pre-Garzón				[43]
1800			Tapajós orogeny				Mitú (1800)						[41][43]
1950			Transamazonic orogeny				pre-Mitú						[41]
2200			Columbia
2530	Archean		Carajas-Imataca orogeny										[41]
3100			Kenorland
Sources

Legend

• group
• important formation
• fossiliferous formation
• minor formation
• (age in Ma)
• proximal Llanos (Medina)^{[note 1]}
• distal Llanos (Saltarin 1A well)^{[note 2]}

See also

• Colombia portal
• Geology portal

Geology of the Eastern Hills

Geology of the Ocetá Páramo

Geology of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense